Post submitted by Whitney Lovell, HRC State and Municipal Legislative Program Manager

After a slight delay last week by the mayor, the Dallas city council has overwhelmingly passed a Comprehensive Statement of Support for the LGBT Community. With a vote of 13-2, the resolution authorizes the city manager’s office to resolve inequalities in pension plans and HR policies as well as take steps to increase Dallas’ score on the Municipal Equality Index. After its passage, Councilman Jerry Allen said, ““This is a historic day for Dallas — for equality, civil rights, inclusion.”

The resolution was recommended to the city council a couple of weeks ago after HRC’s legislative counsel for state and municipal advocacy and the author of the MEI, Cathryn Oakley, testified at the hearing about the MEI and ways in which Dallas could improve its score. With the passage of this resolution, Dallas is well on its way to improving its score on the 2014 MEI.

All across the country cities like Dallas are stepping up to show support of their LGBT citizens where states and the federal government have failed to do so, and HRC’s celebrates the work of those cities. For more information or to read the report, please visit www.hrc.org/mei. Dallas' scorecard is available here.